Author: wajdi1987

The next Star Wars novels will flesh out the prequel era

Image: Lucasfilm

Today at San Diego Comic-Con, Lucasfilm assembled a panel of its authors to preview the next crop of Star Wars books and comics. With Episode IX yet to begin production, the next couple of novels will focus on the prequel era.

Ever since Timothy Zahn wrote Heir to the Empire in 1991, books have been a major part of the larger Star Wars franchise, expanding the story beyond the films and introducing new characters. When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, the past books and comics — the Star Wars Expanded Universe — were rendered non-canon. But ever since, publisher Del Rey has worked with the Star Wars Story Group to coordinate all the franchise’s new stories across its various media to ensure that everything fits together and collectively tells a consistent and much bigger story.

The first new book announced at the panel will be all about Padmé Amidala. Queen’s Shadow will be written by E.K. Johnston, who..

Watch the first trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass

A year ago, M. Night Shyamalan scored a surprise hit with his film Split, about a teenager named Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) being kidnapped and held hostage by Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder. The end of the film had a surprise: a direct tie-in to Shyamalan’s comic-book superhero homage Unbreakable, which led to an announcement that his followup film Glass would further connect the two films. At its Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con today, Universal Pictures released a full trailer for the film.

The trailer introduces Dr. Ellie Staple (played by Sarah Paulson), a psychiatrist who specializes in “those individuals who believe they are superheroes,” addressing Bruce Willis’ Unbreakable character David Dunn, Kevin Crumb’s various personalities, and Samuel L. Jackson’s Mr. Glass. The three characters have come together in a hospital under her skeptical supervision for t..

Joss Whedon is developing a ‘richly diverse’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot

Joss Whedon’s TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended its original run back in 2003, but 15 years later, a new iteration of the show is in development. Deadline reports that Whedon and Midnight, Texas creator Monica Owusu-Breen are developing the series at Fox 21 TV Studios. There is no home yet for the new Buffy, but the plan is for the series to be pitched to cable networks and streaming services later this summer.

The original show followed Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a “Slayer” destined to fight evil forces in her new hometown of Sunnydale. Inspired by Whedon’s feature film of the same name, the series ran for seven seasons, inspiring a spin-off series (Angel), a larger expanded universe of comics and novels, and a fanbase that has remained devoted to the show years after it came to an end.

The new show will be set in the present day, building on the mythology already established in the ori..